One Almost Dead Cricut

About two years ago, I purchased my little Cricut cutting system. I got it with a 40% off coupon at Michaels Craft Store in Harrisonburg. The Michaels in Manassas wouldn't let me use a coupon, so when I went to Harrisonburg, I thought I'd try my luck there.

I really enjoy using the Cricut and I've subscribed to the Cricut Newsletter that comes every month. I like seeing what other, more talented, people create using their machines. I kept coming up on all these abbreviations that I didn't understand. Finally, I realized that "DS" meant Dear Son, "DD" was Dear Daughter, "DH" meant Dear Husband, and so on. They even abbreviated the titles of the cartridges, or "carts" as they call them. For a long time I was totally confused, but finally got the hang of it. The only one I didn't understand was "DS" being used as in "I used my DS to create this design. Huh? She used her Dear Son? How? And why? "DS" was doing an awful lot of stuff. How old were these kids, anyway?

When I needed to call the company about something one day, I asked her what else did "DS" stand for? That's when I found out about the Design Studio! Ah ha!

Months later, I was able to purchase the Design Studio and I've loved it ever since. Until Friday. Well, to be honest, it's not the DS that I'm upset about. It's the Cricut. It seems that the motor is going. I've only had it about 2 years and I need to send it to Utah for repairs. I can't afford that. The repairs will probably cost around $75 (if I'm lucky, he said) and I'd have to pay postage both ways, plus insurance. I'm thinking that I'd be better off if I bought a new one. Crap.

You'd think that Provo Craft could have manufactured it a little better with a stronger motor so that it would last more than 2 years. This one doesn't even get heavy use. I'd say it gets light to moderate use. I have never taken it out of the house to use anywhere else, the g'daughters don't use it without supervision, and Kara has used it occasionally. That's about it. Never dropped it, never lent it out, never bent, folded or stapled it.

I first noticed trouble when it wouldn't cut all the way down the length of the mat. I had tried to cut "Congratulations" using Base Camp at 1". It cut "Cong" and then traced the rest of the letters. I reinserted the mat and typed in "rat" and cut that. Reinserted it again and cut out "ula". It took forever, but I finally got the rest of the letters. After talking to a Provo Craft rep, she finally told me how to reset my machine. I followed all the directions, waited 1/2 hour and tried it again. It worked!

Until the next time I used the machine, about a week later. Same problem. I tried the "reset" procedure. It worked, but it only lasted through one cut. The very next cut only cut about 1/2 way down the mat. Each additional cut was shorter than the first. Finally, only one letter. I reset it each time I want to use it. This takes 1/2 hour for each cut. Yikes!

This last time, the technician told me that it must be the motor. Unfortunately, I can't afford to get it fixed.

'I'm very disappointed.